Police Commissario Guido Brunetti is back, for the thirty second time though it can be read as a standalone as there is no reference to any previous books. Once again, he is solving crime in Venice and doing it at his own pace. Guido may not be the detective for those that like nonstop action because he works at a much gentler pace.
One evening Guido gets the call to say that a body has been found in a canal and when he gets there, he realises that he has seen the man before. What is the victim’s connection to the people at the palazzo Guido recently visited? And, what’s the connection to kidnappings committed in the 1980’s? The mystery deepens when part of a human finger is found in the victim’s pocket.
As well as the police procedural part of the book there is a large dose of Brunetti’s life and unlike most fictional detectives, he is happily married with two well adjusted children and he has a good life. In Guido Brunetti, Donna Leon has created a gentle character and through him we become immersed in Venice and its culture.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This incredibly is the thirty second book in the Venice based series. It features Police Commissario Guido Brunetti. The rank translates into a Detective Superintendent in the UK. Happily married to Paola with two well adjusted children.
He has given up his study so his daughter can have a bedroom. He has also agreed to get rid of some of his precious books.
Brunetti gets involved with a delicate matter through his friend Ispettore Vianello. Together with Commissaria Claudia Griffoni the three are a force to be reckoned with.
When a dead body is found in one of the canals and Guido realises he has met the man. It turns into an intriguing case for Brunetti and his colleagues. It features an elderly Nun and a mischievous dog named Sara.
Brunetti comes across as a gentle pleasant person. He loves good food and his family.
It is very remiss that this is the first book by the author that I have read. I must put this right and catch up with an intriguing series.
Recommended as a good read.

If you want a fast paced read then this book is not for you. The story meanders between a murder and the 'outting' of a police officer at a pride ralley.
A desire for new authors and the strenghth of the blurb made me request an ARC but I struggled with the slow tempo of the story, I don't know if this is supposed to reflect life in Venice but it made had for me to want to know who or why. The type of novel I prefer is one where you ant 'just one more chapter' instead of 'please let this end'! I don't know if this is because it is of a series that I had not read and was therefore not familiar with the characters.
Just not for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this.

Set in Venice, Guido Brunetti and Paola are assigned to solve the murder of an immigrant. However, he doesn't exist anywhere but is known to certain groups.
Brunetti is forced to face his past and his present and even his future.

This is the first of the Brunetti novels I have read and I have an awful out of catching up to do! What a joy it is to be in Venice with this thoughtful, cultured and insightful detective. This book has it all - a really gripping story, superb writing, brilliant characterisation and descriptions of place that make the city come alive. What a joy that there are thirty books to read to get to know Guido Brunetti better.

Guido Brunetti continues to solve crimes in Venice, his latest being the murder of Ines Kavinda, originally from Sri Lanka but resident in Venice for the past eight years. As usual with Donna Leon, we learn a lot about the minor characters in the novel, and also the day to day routine and family life of Brunetti. Seemingly irrelevant information gels together to form a picture of life in Venice and the bureaucracy and laws that Brunetti has to work around.
Always an interesting read especially if you love Venice.

This was an absorbing Murder/Mystery with lots of twists and turns, all set in the beautiful city of Venice. It had an almost bucolic feel at times but got there in the end.,. Some good characters and an interesting story line..

Up to the usual high standard of Donna Leon. Another slice of Brunetti's daily life punctuated by various coffees and conversation with his colleagues and family members. Paola always seems to have useful words to say even if at the time, Brunetti does not realise. This story has a lot more politics than usual, so quite complicated if starting from a very low bar of knowledge. Already looking forward to the next book. Thanks to Netgalley.

This novel is number 32 in the long running Brunetti series set in Venice. By this time we have become familiar with Brunetti’s home and work life, it is like being immersed in the local customs and traditions of Venice. We come to know his family and his work colleagues and how these relationships have developed.
Having said all that it did take a while to get into this story as almost nothing happens, just daily life. However, the pace soon picked up when a body was discovered in one of the canals, a murder waiting to be solved as usual by Brunetti.
Another great read by Ms Leon.

The latest In Donna Leon's series of books about Guido Brunetti opens with a dead body in a canal. The man turns out to be an illegal immigrant living in one of the old Palazzos. The murder as with many of Leons books takes a meandering approach reaching back in time to the terrorist violence of the 80s, youthful ideals and compromises and changes wrought as we grow older.
Brunetti is supported in his investigation by his usual cohort of Vianelli, Griffoni and Signorina Elettra balanced with depictions of his family life.

An entertaining read that will appeal to Leon's many fans.

What a pleasure to once again sink back into the enchanting Venetian world of Commissario Guido Brunetti. Donna Leon is so clever the way she not only provides a thrilling mystery plot for her sleuth to solve but also incorporates bits of history, philosophy, politics and art lessons all punctuated with wonderful caricatures of Venice and the Venetians. In her latest story, So Shall You Reap, Guido has to piece together the interesting life of a Sri Lankan whose body turns up in a canal and who has been living under the radar acting as a handyman for an aristocratic University Professor. As always, the gulf between Brunetti’s working class roots and the more privileged life he now appears to lead brings conflict in his introspection when faced with arrogance and prejudice. In addition, he has to reflect on how his view of society has changed since being an idealistic college student.
Those who are already devotees of Donna Leon will lap this up and not find any disappointment. For those who are new to him, be prepared for a wonderful adventure in this ancient city.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing access to this pre publication edition.

Slow burner of a detective yarn set in Venice - quite good.

This Inspector Brunetti novel is interesting and worth reading if you enjoy this series of detective stories. However be prepared for very little action and very few suspects in this murder investigation. The book deals a great deal with the life of Venetians and with the political turmoil of the 1980s. . It's very much character-led as well as encompassing the various parts of the Venetian landscape. Enjoyable enough but don't expect too much. "I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Donna Leon and Venice seem inseparable. My love for the city has increased with her Guido Brunetti series. I have loved this series and the new one, So shall you reap is no exception. This is an amazing mystery. It's a pleasure to read.

Very enjoyable book. Although not one of Leon's best Brunetti novels, it was still far better than many crime novels proving what a great storyteller she is. The setting of Venice does help. It works as a stand alone but it would be a shame to have missed all of the previous 31 novels. I eagerly await novel 33.

Inspectore Guido Brunetti is high on my list of favourite fictional detectives. He is quiet and thoughtful; happy with his lively family and long ago decided that he neither needed nor wanted the promotion that would have meant he had to sell his soul to the likes of his superior, Patta.
In this book a hand is discovered in one of Venices' canals and eventually the body to which the hand belongs is found.
The body is that of a Sri Lankan immigrant who is living in the garden of a professor at the University.
Brunetti is acquainted with the professor's wife but even so there is a lack of help from the couple with the investigation.
The man has books on diverse subjects in his home; revolution and religion amongst them.
It takes input from Signora Elletra and Brunetti's wife Paola to help conclude this mystery.

This is a marvellous addition to Donna Leon's Venice based series featuring Commissario Guido Brunnetti, giving us a glimpse into Italian political history, from a more personal angle capturing the idealism with its problematic nature with insights into young Guido's student days. It opens with Ispecttore Lorenzo Vianello and Guido engaging in tricky dance to rescue Alvisse, a police officer who had attended a gay protest. To help his father in law, Guido visits the Palazzo Zaffo dei Leoni in an effort to discover whether the rumours it is for sale are true, where he meets a Sri Lankan man living in the garden house in the grounds. A late night call alerts him to the sighting of a hand in a canal, and it is not long once he arrives on the scene that a body is recovered with multiple stab wounds.

To Guido's surprise, he recognises the murdered man, he had met him the previous day, the undocumented Sri Lankan, Inesh Kavinda, a peace loving Buddhist who did various job's for the Palazzo's owners, a Italian academic Professor Renato Molin and his wife, Gloria Forcolin, who he had met previously. There seems to be no motive for Kavinda's killing, accounts seem to bear out that he was a good man, although there are papers in his home that make no sense. They relate to Italy's turbulent political and violent history, with its kidnappings and disappearances, but why would the Sri Lankan man be interested in this? Guido follows a number of threads, aided by the able Signorina Elettra, who refines a method she learns of at a conference, along with Vianello and Commissario Claudia Griffoni.

One of the delights of the series is the indepth picture of Venice as a location, from its geography to its culture, and the intimate picture we are privy to of Guido's family life, his academic wife Paola, and his children. Our understanding of Guido as a character is deepened here as we learn of his past, and how Italian political history is central to solving the murder of Kavinda. This is a wonderfully engaging read, a terrific addition to a brilliant series. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

My goodness, this is already no. 32 in Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series. The first novel she published was in 1992, a span of around thirty years, averaging one novel per year. That is quite a feat! Each novel takes a different tack, but the setting of Venice is consistently colourful and makes a perfect read for anyone who want to explore the city through fiction. This novel is set post-pandemic and the reality of the last couple of years is marked – the pandemic has wreaked havoc on some of the shops, left boarded behind metal grilles, and generally it feels there is a malaise hanging over the city. It’s early Winter and the wind is whipping up litter and the cold has settled into fabric of the city. Paola, Brunetti’s wife, is intent on ensuring her husband dresses appropriately. The caring nature of the Commissario is evident, too, and there are windows into his own home life as he spends time with his Paola and the children, perhaps eating food (of course) or generally hanging out in their home or making their way through the city.

The story opens with an attack on one of his team and broadens into a storyline where a body is discovered in one of the canals. He is not unfamiliar with the victim, as their paths had crossed in a rather grand palazzo just recently – the commissario had been ascertaining, at the best of someone he knows, whether the property might just be on the market. The bigger properties seldom come onto the market. This particular edifice seems not to be available but his interest is nevertheless piqued, given the owners.

The dead man – clearly a buddhist – had been busy amassing literature that focussed on terrorist groups at the end of the 20th Century, a curious collection given the dead man’s provenance. Where does Brunetti even start to bring all the clues together?

An engaging and easy to read novel that will transport you to Venice – as always – with this author.

I think this must be my first experience of a Commisario Guido Brunetti novel by Donna Leon. It reminded me a lot of another detective novel set in Greece featuring a certain investigator called Hermes Diaktoros by Anne Zouroudi. Both give a very rich immersive experience. So Shall You Reap (from Galatians 6:7) gives a clue as to the skeletal framework of the story. Young people's dreams become old men's nightmares for sure, when the idealism of youth whithers on the vine of experience, this is what Commisario Guido Brunetti discovers when investigating the death of Inesh Kavinda, brutally slain in a city of such genteel elegance. Such a death is almost an unmentionable amongst Venetians. In a clever piece of detective work, Brunetti uncovers echoes of terrorism but not as quickly as Inesh's dog. For lovers of all things Venice, this novel would either bring back memories or act as a primer for a visit there, plus of course, it would entertain.

Quite unbelievably, this is the thirty-second instalment in the Guido Brunetti series of enquiries and this eponymous, personable detective is still finding Venetian mysteries to solve. Although some components of Donna Leon’s series appear never to change (Brunetti’s children seem to be trapped in perpetual youthhood and his wife Paola’s elaborate cookery shows to sign of slowing down), other aspects move solidly with the times and frame serious contemporary challenges, mainly embodied in the minor characters. It is for this reason that ‘So You Shall Reap’ opens with a demonstration that has turned violent before introducing, a little later in the novel, a Sri Lankan citizen called Inesh whose lifeless body is fished from the canals. His investigations immerse Brunetti in the world of Venetian estate agents that somehow lead back to Italian politics, terrorism and counterculture of the 1980s, and to the secrets Venice’s ruling classes of the law and education still clandestinely harbour. As usual, following Brunetti, Vianello, Griffoni and the formidable Signora Elettra in their investigations is pure joy, as is digesting the many atmospheric descriptions of Venice. Either would be reason enough to pick up this book – it is warmly recommended, and I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for the free ARC I received that allowed me to produce this honest, unbiased review.

So Shall You Reap, another masterpiece from Donna Leon. As usual, this is so much more than a police drama. I have grown to love Guido Brunetti and his family over the years and of course to enjoy the beauty of Venice.